Sew obsessed, sew excited, sew red-y to create!

A Robert Kaufman Sewaholic Granville Shirt

We all knew this post was coming sooner or later after I professed my undying love for the Sewaholic Granville Shirt. Yep, I’ve made another one!

I wear the heck out of my Tencel Granville, so I immediately cut out another one after I finished my first. It took me forever to finish, though, because I had some other projects that actually had deadlines! Plus, I stopped right when it was time to attach the collar to the collar stand. I had issues with the collar and stand being too long before and was hoping, after making sure that I cut everything perfectly, that it would go seamlessly (no pun intended). However, it went just like it did before! I had to shorten the collar and stand by a whole seam allowance again. This really bothers me!

The collar ends up looking just fine after I make those adjustments, but it’s a little too tight to button up all the way. Good thing is I’m too cool (or not cool enough) to button my shirts all the way up.

I bought the fabric from CaliFabrics – it’s a Robert Kaufman shirting cotton. Isn’t it neat? As usual for a cotton, it sewed up very well and is comfortable to wear.

I harvested the buttons from a shirt I was going to throw out because the armpit stains were just too bad to donate. It’s a good feeling to be able to reuse something that was just going to go in a landfill anyway!

Aren’t they pretty?

I sewed a straight size 10 but made one adjustment to the pattern. I shortened the sleeves by 1 1/2 inches and it made a world of difference!

No more gorilla-length sleeves! My Tencel Granville has the insanely long sleeves as-drafted and I just turn the cuff up every time I wear it. I also sewed my first Granville with a 3/8 inch seam allowance for the sleeves because I was scared of the arms being too tight. I sewed them at the normal 5/8 inch seam allowance here and although the elbows wrinkle, it doesn’t feel too bad.

I still have a pretty good range of motion with the Granville! I hate women’s button-down shirts that are basically spray-painted on which makes it really hard to move around. My job requires some moving and light to moderate lifting in between hunching over a computer all day, so I like how this shirt can move along with me. I mean, that’s what we as humans are made to do, right?

OK, let’s take a look at the insides now!

Not too much different from the right side, eh?

Maybe that’s because I used flat-felled seams for the first time in my sewing life! They’re easy but they do require more time at the ironing board. I used this tutorial from Colette Patterns if you want to go check it out. I think it’s worth it to have something that looks just as pretty on the inside as the outside. Plus, it makes the seams crazy strong!

I tried doing flat-felled seams on every seam, but I was scratching my head when it came to the sleeves… so I ended up just serging them instead.

I later found out that it is possible to do flat-felled seams on shoulders when I was making a muslin of the Colette Negroni Shirt for DD! They include it as part of the instructions, so I’ll let you know how it goes when I start/finish it!

I have plans for so many more Granvilles since I am actively trying to replace all of the RTW collared, button-down shirts in my closet. I harvested buttons from 3 over the weekend, so that’s more space in my closet to fill again! I wore the heck out of those poor shirts and they looked pretty rough after years of sweating and working in them. I can’t help the pit stains, work makes me stress-sweat!

Now it’s time to go celebrate another successful work shirt!

‘Til next time!

-RED

P.S. Don’t you LOVE my new silver shoes? They make me feel like a space-age rockstar! I bought them on sale at my local DSW during a retail therapy session. ❤

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22 thoughts on “A Robert Kaufman Sewaholic Granville Shirt”

These pictures are perfect! I have never thought about making a Granville shirt (even though I live so close to the street it was named after!) but the smiles on your face MAY be changing my mind. Congratulations on the flat-fell seams! I agree, they are time-consuming but they turned out absolutely gorgeous! Also shoes, heck yes. Heck! Yes!

Thank you! The construction and insides turn out so professional-looking… I highly recommend this pattern! The only issue is the collar… but I think I’ll make a muslin where I add 5/8 inch to the middle front piece… so instead of making the collar shorter, I’ll make the bodice wider. I’m noticing some pulling there, so hopefully that’ll fix everything! #fittingn00b

Thanks so much! Flat felled seams aren’t much more difficult than regular seams – you just use more thread. 😉 Plus, on this pattern you only have to worry about the seams for the back 2 shaping seams and the side seams (and the armhole seams if you can make that work). I used French seams for the length of the sleeves. All the other seams are enclosed!

Love that you tried out the flat felled seams! I’ve been wanted to try those out. It makes for such lovely insides. Maybe on my next shirt, I’ll go this route. If my sewing twin can do it, so can I! Nothing is better than a great button down. Looking good lady!

These buttons just sing, and the fabric has got such great texture. It reminds me of a painting blurred by rain–very cool! Flat felling makes for great shirts. I do that for my boys’ shirts, and you’re right about the strength. They can blow out holes in knees in record time, but I’ve yet to see any wear in a felled seam in any of their shirts.

Oooh I love that description of the fabric! I saw it online and stepped away for a few days, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it and grabbed some when the yardage was low on the site. Well, it looks like it gets replenished so I guess I didn’t need to rush, lol! But I’m so glad I whipped it up almost ASAP because I can’t stop wearing it!

Haha that’s good to know flat-felled seams can survive the stress of playful boys! Looks like this shirt will last me forever!

Addicted to sewing since the 70’s – Sewing Blogger since 2013 – Enjoying a #RTWFAST and Creator of #DESIGNINDECEMBER since 2015 – Designing Handbags and Accessories and PDF Sewing Patterns for bags and accessories at #LANYOSHANDMADE since 2018 – Lover of vegan, sustainable, repurposed and up-cycled projects – I want to try everything, learn everything and talk about it with you!